VIDEO: More Than 200 Women Ride For LA’s First Clitoral Mass

The Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade hosted the all-women bicycle ride Clitoral Mass this past Saturday after months of organizing, and weeks of activities leading up to the event. The ride is the first of its kind in Los Angeles, bringing women from all parts of Los Angeles, California, and even some riders from out of state, to do a single-sex Critical Mass-styled ride.

Alice Strong, a long time bike activist, said that she is used to seeing familiar female faces from the bike movement at large rides. Yet at Clitoral Mass, she saw so many female riders she has never seen before, she said.

“It’s the first ride with women that has been that large.”

For more information about the Ovarian Psycos, visit Ovarianpsycos.com.

See a photo gallery from Clitoral Mass taken by South LA reporter Sahra Sulaiman, by clicking here.

Wow, the first bike ride in LA that is openly anti-inclusive. Congrats misandronists.

Finally, a ride for those who want to openly tell people “No, you can’t come on this ride because you don’t ______!”
Would the response be as positive if it were an all-male bike ride, with men yelling out at the start that if you weren’t “Male or male identified” you were not welcome in their group?

We’ve been over this already: there are harassment issues that women bicyclists (and pretty much any women who travel through public space) face that men simply don’t, and the lower rate of cycling among the female population means that pretty much every other group ride is dominated by dudes. I, for one, commend this effort to create a safe, comfortable environment for women to give cycling a try.

There are male only group bike rides of one form or another all the time, whether they are always explicitly labeled as such or not, and women are often made to feel uncomfortable if they attend.

If a dude wants to be around other dudes riding bikes that is easy, and the men who ride bikes for transportation or sport is presently a far higher percentage than women in the US. You can declare a special ride for men, but I doubt you’ll find as much enthusiasm for it.

I hope they drop by the office for the National Association for the Advancement of White People.

DeezOvas

The difference between the ovarian ride and the “all male” rides you refer to is that IF a woman showed up she wouldn’t be told “get lost, you don’t have the right genitals”, she wouldn’t be a part of the “matriarchy”, and she wouldn’t be there “just to get laid”.

The bike scene in LA has grown by leaps and bounds over the past half decade – through inclusive rides that broaden the cycling experience for people from all walks of life. Even the black kids on bikes rides
allow non-blacks on their rides. The idea of being so disgustingly closed to the general public (for whatever bullshit patriarchy political hoo ha message it is) is the antithesis of the foundation upon which the ovarions are riding.

Bigots and their rides, and their assumptions about the motives of men in general, have no place at center stage in LA’s bike scene.

Again, it’s not so much about excluding men as it is about making women feel comfortable and safe. It’s simpler to just ask men not to participate than it is to open it up to everyone and worry that some jackass will make an inappropriate or demeaning comment and thus ruin the good vibes. Personally, even though I’d like to think of myself as a fairly gentlemanly fellow, I have no problem honoring such a request.

DeezOvas

Niall,

Making women feel safe has nothing to do with it at all. I cannot imagine how fucked up it would be if a group of men, or people of one ethnic group, got loads of positive press and openly told people not in their group to “If you are not one of us, leave!” at the beginning of their bike ride. This does not deserve mainstream support.

Imagine a ride where violence, a “quien es mas macho” ethic, and gun toting members receive the praise of a clueless public.

Risking a man “ruining the good vibes”?! What planet are you from? Are you a human or some robot programed to suck up to a clueless gyno-centric world view?

The good vibes? Why is a male the ruiner of good vibes? Assholes come in all flavors (as I am sure you know). There are plenty of horrible people out there with vaginas.

Males have a place in society, and are not a pariah group. They are not by default a negative, violent, aggressively sexual, influence. The evidence for this is all around us. These stereotypes hurt everyone. Hundreds, probably thousands, of males have worked tirelessly to host bike rides, hold vigils, help fellow cyclists in need, advocate for positive change in city hall, and fight the fight for a better city.

“Imagine a ride where violence, a “quien es mas macho” ethic, and gun toting members receive the praise of a clueless public.”

Actually, given the uncouth behavior and comments I’ve seen/heard on some group rides where there were mostly guys present, I can imagine that some of the women in the group may have felt a similar level of intimidation as you or I would experience under the scenario you describe. That’s not the equivalent of what I saw in this video. I saw the organizer politely and respectfully request that men “respect the space” and not participate — on one ride out of dozens that take place all over LA every month.

Like Gary said, it’s not all that hard to find a group of dudes to ride with who you’re comfortable being around. For women, finding another ride to take part in where they’re more or less guaranteed not to get harassed or insulted isn’t really an option.

DeezOvas

Niall,

Oh, so when some people act violently or rudely on rides – and WOMEN feel uncomfortable: then we have a problem. The other men on the ride are fine with it, then, right?

Do you do backwards bows when you encounter someone with XX chromosomes, apologizing for being born the way you were, apologizing for the crimes of being a man?

Would these women matter if they hadn’t pre-packaged themselves with photos, logos, and a faux-1960’s bunch of sophmore year “revolutionary” rhetoric? If they weren’t all in the early 20s and 30’s? Imagine a group of 50 year old women with the same message – would they get center stage and a fawning audience of left-wing masturbaters and self-loating males cheering them on?

I find little to praise in a group that spreads the implication that being born male makes you a threat. That being born male makes you dangerous, negative. Enough men have grown up with this, ceded our identities and our needs in order to have sex or be considered “normal”, without crushing guilt and judgement by the rest of society, that this bigotry, out in the open, needs to be called out.

No one’s saying it’s negative to be born male. I’m secure in who I am and I don’t feel any shame or guilt about it. Because of entrenched social norms and sheer biological differences, however, it’s way more difficult for women to escape those feelings. Things like this ride are simply an attempt to give women a measure of the very same freedom from shame and guilt that you and I take for granted. There are, of course, instances where militant feminists take things too far and unfairly generalize about men and heap undeserved scorn on individual men for things that aren’t their fault. From my perspective, I simply don’t see any of that going on here.

And no, it’s not any more OK for men to be intimidated and made uncomfortable than it is for women to be. But given the demographics of bicycling in LA (lots of teenage boys and young men who haven’t necessarily developed the maturity to know what’s appropriate and what isn’t), it’s a hell of a lot harder for women to find a group of people to ride with who won’t make them feel that way.

DeezOvas

Hey, we would allow men to drink from this water fountain but unfortunately some teenage boys vandalized one once so we have to ban all people with genitals similar to those boys, unless they prefer to dress and act like a woman.

You would be able to dance on this dance floor but there is a guy who said something really disgusting here once and so anyone with chromosomes like him has to be banned from dancing here.
Here: have some pictures. Thanks for the re-tweet and the positive press about our fountain and our dance floor. Yeah, we got the idea from all the fountains and dance floors that y’all have been installing in this city using a radically inclusive ethos and a concern for your fellow citizen. All those years of you making this something we would even want to do with ourselves – encouragement, material support, free publicity. Thx. Cool.

But, you know what? Those teenagers and that one guy – gah! They are just terrible creepers. So how about you stay behind the rape-fence there and keep your hand where we can see them.

Not the same thing. This is one ride out of many, and it took place at the same time as Critical Mass, so it’s not like your ability to go on a group ride on a Friday night was at all affected. And it’s not all that hard to get a group of guys (and only guys) together at some other place and/or time.

I simply don’t see how this ride perpetrated some gross injustice against men.

I was waiting for one of the
Ovarian-Psycos posts to get some comments from a MRA angle claiming victimization. It took longer than I was expecting!

Ovarios.

Haters gonna Hate –
Ovaries gonna Ovulate! <3

Thanks for all the feedback – good and bad ;)

Ovarios.

Also, this is the only post that Ovarian Psycos posted in this ridiculous thread – (From my understanding) We were not posting as “DeezOvas or DeezNuts”

Thanks for all your support!

ElsaSuzy Ovarian Sista

Wow. My first reaction is to laugh at the dumb humor of the writer who created a ride to spoof what the Ovarians Psychos have created. I heard wind of it from a male cyclist that there was a “Brovarian Brigade” but it wasn’t until I was updating my post about the Ovarians Clit Mass that I ran into this dialog. Someone who feels so strongly should not rant and not identify yourself properly. Why don’t you come out of hiding and reveal your identity and introduce yourself and be civil. The Ovarians would welcome you at one of our co-ed rides. Take note, That in the past there have been opportunities outside of Clitoral Mass and the Luna rides to invite males to also ride with this women’s collective. There is a place for dialog in the cycling community, and Ovarians had a right to organize this ride just as much as anyone else has the right to post a ride on Midnight Ridazz. Yes, we have a sense of humor but more important is the sense of social justice and solidarity. So thanks for the attention and for the spoof and attention. I’m glad we got under your skin, and I hope you will enjoy your rides. But give us our space and our time to roll as sisters on the streets.

Well I guess any sort of cycling advocacy is good but I’m still not overly convinced that ‘segregating’ cyclists into different marginal groups is going to help things along. Good effort though from everyone turning up, the more the merrier I guess.

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